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juushikaTitle: The Warning (Animorphs Book 16)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 145
Total Page Count: 293,390
Text Number: 964
Read Because: reading the series
Review: This may be the most dated of the books so far; I can't recall if this is what the early internet felt like, but it sure feels strange now. The plot revelations are also too contained and too easily delivered; this is one of the first times they've communicated directly with an enemy, and it's glaringly unrealistic. But Jake's character study is great, particularly post-The Andalite Chronicles: applying these ethical dilemmas to the leader of a band of kids is punishing and unsolvable, and I appreciate that the book is willing to leave things unresolved.
Title: The Underground (Animorphs Book 17)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 165
Total Page Count: 293,965
Text Number: 966
Read Because: reading the series
Review: The balance in this book is strange: slow, painstaking set-up; quick and too-easy climax, despite the as-always ridiculous scale. That first half is good, excepting problematic discussions of mental illness (which feels particularly out of place given that trauma and "there are no therapists" are constant themes in this series); it's grueling, claustrophobic, more atmospheric than most Animorphs books. The second half is routine, and I wish that Rachel's exaggerated characterization either was questioned (like Jake's and Marco's) or didn't rely on bad communication; I need her bad decisions to be interrogated.
A note from future Juu: just wait until book 22, self!
Title: The Decision (Animorphs Book 18)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 294,375
Text Number: 968
Read Because: reading the series
Review: There's a huge amount going on in this book, and it's handled pretty well. I appreciate that it picks up previous worldbuilding elements; elaborations on Andalite culture are never particularly interesting, but everything else—from the speculative elements to the alien ecosystem of the water planet—is. The Andalite Chronicles, The Warning (Book 16), and The Decision (Book 18) are part of an ongoing conversation about ethics, particularly Human vs Andalite ethics (and social politics, and racial hegemony in the face of the Yeerk threat), and it dovetails nicely with Ax's identity crisis and his dynamic with Jake. It's tainted by the necessary but unsuccessful humor that frames this book (I just can't buy that Ax is this bad at comprehending/mimicking human behavior), but the overall thrust is surprisingly tense and nuanced.
As a side note: why did Andalites invent morphing technology if they don't use it/consider it valuable? Is it one of dozens of equally sophisticated inventions that we haven't seen? Is it socially devalued for class/labor/other reasons, despite its potential? They're the only species in the known universe that has it, and it's desirable technology and effectively a status symbol, but doesn't jive at all with what we've seen of Andalite society. (Which may just be the consequence of bad worldbuilding that the narrative is forever trying to patch up.)
Title: In the Time of the Dinosaurs (Megamorphs Book 2 / Animorphs Book 18.5)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 230
Total Page Count: 294,605
Text Number: 969
Read Because: reading the series
Review: How unlucky are these kids that they keep getting caught in weird phenomena—a particularly glaring coincidence since there was one in the previous book. But the time-travel creates a punishing scenario, even for this series; it's one part survival, one part setpiece, and certainly bigger and more worthy of a Megamorphs title than the previous attempt, The Andalite's Gift. It would be a better narrative if much of the danger were less episodic and two big reveals (dinosaurs; meteor) not so predictable (say, perhaps, not spoiled by the title), but the characterization, particularly the glimpse into Tobias's growing ruthless, and the atmosphere still work.
Title: The Departure (Animorphs Book 19)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 295,130
Text Number: 971
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Cassie books could easily be pure navel-gazing, but they're stubbornly realized: a punishing lived experience with potentially devastating consequences. I love that the dilemma is never fully resolved, I love that the supporting cast spans a spectrum of agreements and disagreements, I love the necessary optimism of the resolution. I love the intimate ethical dialogue paired against substantial and thoroughly satisfying elaborations on Yeerk worldbuilding.
I've been grading the Animorphs books on a curve, if you will, to account for limitations like repetition and page length and writing style; I'm still stingy with "perfect" ratings, but for an Animorphs book this could well be perfect—it certainly meets and exceeds my other favorites so far.
Perhaps not always with utmost grace, but this book directly answers some worldbuilding questions re: Yeerks, such as, "Do they only self-actualize in host bodies?" and "Have they considered the ethical implications of this?" and it's fascinating.
1. This raises a wealth of questions, given the existence in The Alien (Book 8) of "heteronormativity [...] established to be so universal as to apply even to symbiotic brain worms" where a romantic m/f Yeerk pair is identified by their male and female human hosts. What is the third Yeerk? do they have a third reproductive role? Is the m/f pair a coincidence for the sake of writing for a middle grade audience and is Yeerk gender entirely unrelated to the human gender binary? How intense must a reproductive drive be for a sentient race to be like, "yeah, sign me up to mate & die"?What's the relationship between romance and sex if it can only be consummated once? How does that complicate—or further abstract—the issue of gender? ????? Do Yeerks have sex in host bodies? How does that complicate these issues? Tell me more about alien gender politics & sexy times pls I am begging you.
2. But they don't, really, as established in The Underground (Book 17) & elsewhere; they can, but they don't. Is this because the Yeerks we see in the pools are feeding and/or because they're otherwise embodied, therefore have limited time for & less incentive to communicate? Is this communication less complex than speech as we know it? I'm divided between "the Yeerks would look down at the way their host bodies operate because they're Evil Aliens and that's what evil aliens do" and "the Yeerks find their unembodied existence so limited that they dismiss what capabilities they do have as also inadequate.3
3. A line of reasoning which falls apart somewhat when viewed through a lens of disability. This is another way in which Trill worldbuilding is more robust: there's a lot of benefits to taking a host, but not all symbionts do, and those that don't have fulfilling lives. See, as example, comparisons to d/Deaf culture.
One small side-note: The book titles have become relevant to the books's contents! This is a welcome change.
This set of reviews only goes through book 19 because, as was a surprise to me, book 20 begins a 3-book arc. I'll shove that whole thing in the next group of reviews.
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 145
Total Page Count: 293,390
Text Number: 964
Read Because: reading the series
Review: This may be the most dated of the books so far; I can't recall if this is what the early internet felt like, but it sure feels strange now. The plot revelations are also too contained and too easily delivered; this is one of the first times they've communicated directly with an enemy, and it's glaringly unrealistic. But Jake's character study is great, particularly post-The Andalite Chronicles: applying these ethical dilemmas to the leader of a band of kids is punishing and unsolvable, and I appreciate that the book is willing to leave things unresolved.
Title: The Underground (Animorphs Book 17)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 165
Total Page Count: 293,965
Text Number: 966
Read Because: reading the series
Review: The balance in this book is strange: slow, painstaking set-up; quick and too-easy climax, despite the as-always ridiculous scale. That first half is good, excepting problematic discussions of mental illness (which feels particularly out of place given that trauma and "there are no therapists" are constant themes in this series); it's grueling, claustrophobic, more atmospheric than most Animorphs books. The second half is routine, and I wish that Rachel's exaggerated characterization either was questioned (like Jake's and Marco's) or didn't rely on bad communication; I need her bad decisions to be interrogated.
A note from future Juu: just wait until book 22, self!
Title: The Decision (Animorphs Book 18)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 294,375
Text Number: 968
Read Because: reading the series
Review: There's a huge amount going on in this book, and it's handled pretty well. I appreciate that it picks up previous worldbuilding elements; elaborations on Andalite culture are never particularly interesting, but everything else—from the speculative elements to the alien ecosystem of the water planet—is. The Andalite Chronicles, The Warning (Book 16), and The Decision (Book 18) are part of an ongoing conversation about ethics, particularly Human vs Andalite ethics (and social politics, and racial hegemony in the face of the Yeerk threat), and it dovetails nicely with Ax's identity crisis and his dynamic with Jake. It's tainted by the necessary but unsuccessful humor that frames this book (I just can't buy that Ax is this bad at comprehending/mimicking human behavior), but the overall thrust is surprisingly tense and nuanced.
As a side note: why did Andalites invent morphing technology if they don't use it/consider it valuable? Is it one of dozens of equally sophisticated inventions that we haven't seen? Is it socially devalued for class/labor/other reasons, despite its potential? They're the only species in the known universe that has it, and it's desirable technology and effectively a status symbol, but doesn't jive at all with what we've seen of Andalite society. (Which may just be the consequence of bad worldbuilding that the narrative is forever trying to patch up.)
Title: In the Time of the Dinosaurs (Megamorphs Book 2 / Animorphs Book 18.5)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 230
Total Page Count: 294,605
Text Number: 969
Read Because: reading the series
Review: How unlucky are these kids that they keep getting caught in weird phenomena—a particularly glaring coincidence since there was one in the previous book. But the time-travel creates a punishing scenario, even for this series; it's one part survival, one part setpiece, and certainly bigger and more worthy of a Megamorphs title than the previous attempt, The Andalite's Gift. It would be a better narrative if much of the danger were less episodic and two big reveals (dinosaurs; meteor) not so predictable (say, perhaps, not spoiled by the title), but the characterization, particularly the glimpse into Tobias's growing ruthless, and the atmosphere still work.
Title: The Departure (Animorphs Book 19)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1998
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 295,130
Text Number: 971
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Cassie books could easily be pure navel-gazing, but they're stubbornly realized: a punishing lived experience with potentially devastating consequences. I love that the dilemma is never fully resolved, I love that the supporting cast spans a spectrum of agreements and disagreements, I love the necessary optimism of the resolution. I love the intimate ethical dialogue paired against substantial and thoroughly satisfying elaborations on Yeerk worldbuilding.
I've been grading the Animorphs books on a curve, if you will, to account for limitations like repetition and page length and writing style; I'm still stingy with "perfect" ratings, but for an Animorphs book this could well be perfect—it certainly meets and exceeds my other favorites so far.
Perhaps not always with utmost grace, but this book directly answers some worldbuilding questions re: Yeerks, such as, "Do they only self-actualize in host bodies?" and "Have they considered the ethical implications of this?" and it's fascinating.
For a while, Karen said nothing. Then, like it wasn't important, she said, "We have people like you, too."
"People like me?"
"Sure. Yeerks who oppose the wars, who feel it's wrong to take unwilling hosts."
"Do you know what life is like for us?" Karen asked. "In the Yeerk pool, I mean?"
"No."
"We are born with a hundred or more sisters and brothers. We don't hatch from eggs. And we aren't born the way mammals are born, either. Three Yeerks join together.1 They literally join together, with three bodies becoming one. Then that one body begins to fragment. It breaks up into smaller pieces, grubs they're called. Bit by bit the body disintegrates, and each grub that falls away becomes another Yeerk. Sometimes there are twins, two Yeerks from one grub. The parent-Yeerks die, of course."
She looked at me to see my reaction. "You aren't horrified? You aren't shocked?"
Actually, I was. "I've studied a lot of different animals, so I guess I'm kind of hard to shock."
Karen looked back at the meadow, "In our natural state, we have an excellent sense of smell. We have a good sense of touch. We can hear. We can communicate, using a language of ultrasonic squeaks.2 But we cannot see. We are blind, until we enter a host. Over the millennia we have moved up the evolutionary chain to more and more advanced hosts. Eventually, the Gedds became our basic host bodies.
"They are clumsy, slow creatures. But they have eyes. Oh, you can't imagine! You can't imagine the first time you enter a Gedd brain and seize control and suddenly, you are seeing! Seeing! Colors! Shapes! It's a miracle. To be blind and then to see!"
Suddenly she stooped down and snatched up a caterpillar from a leaf. "Do you see this? This is what I am, without a host body. Helpless! Weak! Blind!" She spun and pointed at the meadow. "Do you see those flowers? Do you see the sunlight? Do you see the birds flying? You hate me for wanting that? You hate me because I won't spend my life blind? You hate me because I won't spend my life swimming endlessly in a sea of sludge, while humans like you live in a world of indescribable beauty?"
1. This raises a wealth of questions, given the existence in The Alien (Book 8) of "heteronormativity [...] established to be so universal as to apply even to symbiotic brain worms" where a romantic m/f Yeerk pair is identified by their male and female human hosts. What is the third Yeerk? do they have a third reproductive role? Is the m/f pair a coincidence for the sake of writing for a middle grade audience and is Yeerk gender entirely unrelated to the human gender binary? How intense must a reproductive drive be for a sentient race to be like, "yeah, sign me up to mate & die"?What's the relationship between romance and sex if it can only be consummated once? How does that complicate—or further abstract—the issue of gender? ????? Do Yeerks have sex in host bodies? How does that complicate these issues? Tell me more about alien gender politics & sexy times pls I am begging you.
2. But they don't, really, as established in The Underground (Book 17) & elsewhere; they can, but they don't. Is this because the Yeerks we see in the pools are feeding and/or because they're otherwise embodied, therefore have limited time for & less incentive to communicate? Is this communication less complex than speech as we know it? I'm divided between "the Yeerks would look down at the way their host bodies operate because they're Evil Aliens and that's what evil aliens do" and "the Yeerks find their unembodied existence so limited that they dismiss what capabilities they do have as also inadequate.3
3. A line of reasoning which falls apart somewhat when viewed through a lens of disability. This is another way in which Trill worldbuilding is more robust: there's a lot of benefits to taking a host, but not all symbionts do, and those that don't have fulfilling lives. See, as example, comparisons to d/Deaf culture.
One small side-note: The book titles have become relevant to the books's contents! This is a welcome change.
This set of reviews only goes through book 19 because, as was a surprise to me, book 20 begins a 3-book arc. I'll shove that whole thing in the next group of reviews.
